Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Why Dehydrate? 4
Benefits of Dehydrating 5
The Prepared Pantry 6
One Year of Food Storage for a Family of Four 9
Chapter 2 Dehydrating Methods 13
Harness the Sun 13
In the Oven 14
Using a Dehydrator 15
Microwave Drying 19
Chapter 3 Basic Dehydrating Instructions 21
Supplies 22
Dehydrating in Small Batches 23
Dehydrating in Large Batches 24
Blanching Vegetables for Dehydrating 25
Fruit Pretreatments to Prevent Oxidization 28
Food Touching on Trays 30
Conditioning the Finished Product 30
General Rehydrating Techniques 31
Record Keeping 33
Chapter 4 Food Purchasing and Safety Information 34
Select the Best Produce 34
Clean Fruit and Vegetables 35
What Not to Dehydrate 36
The Effects of Light, Oxygen, Heat, and Humidity on Dried Food 38
Using Frozen Vegetables 40
Using Frozen Fruit 41
Buying Large Quantities of Produce 42
Chapter 5 Storing Your Dehydrated Food 47
Necessary Equipment 47
Short-Term Vs. Long-Term Pantry 48
Keeping Inventory 50
Rotating Your Food 51
Chapter 6 Fruit and Vegetable Leathers 52
Dehydrator Trays Liners for Making Leather 53
General Instructions for Uncooked Fruit Leather 53
General Instructions for Cooked Fruit Leather 55
How to Store Fruit Leather 55
What Can Go Wrong 56
Vegetable Leather 57
Highly Concentrated Food 58
Chapter 7 Making jerky 59
Safe Jerky 59
Prepare the Meat 60
Pretreating the Meat 60
Dehydrating the Jerky 61
Creating Specialty Jerky Brines 62
Storing Jerky 63
Rehydrating Jerky in Meals 63
Chapter 8 Soups, Powders, and Herbs 64
Soups 64
Powders 66
Herbs 68
Chapter 9 Dehydrating 50 Common Fruit and Vegetables 73
Apples 73
Apricots 74
Asparagus 75
Bananas 76
Beans (Green, Yellow, Snap) 77
Beets 78
Blueberries 79
Broccoli 80
Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts 81
Carrots 83
Cauliflower 84
Celery 85
Cherries 86
Citrus 87
Coconut 88
Corn 89
Cucumbers 90
Eggplant 91
Figs 92
Garlic 93
Ginger 94
Grapes 95
Green Onions and Leeks 96
Horseradish 97
Kale 98
Kiwi 99
Lettuce 99
Mangoes or Papayas 100
Melons 101
Mushrooms 102
Onions (Yellow, White, Red, Sweet) 103
Peaches or Nectarines 104
Pears 105
Peas and Chickpeas 106
Peanut (Raw) 107
Peppers (Hot, Sweet) 108
Pineapple 108
Plums 109
Potatoes 110
Raspberries and Blackberries 112
Rhubarb 113
Spinach 114
Strawberries 115
Summer Squash 116
Sweet Potatoes and Yams 117
Tomatoes 118
Watermelon 119
Winter Squash (Pumpkin, Acorn, Butternut, Delicata) 120
Chapter 10 Recipes 122
Pantry Basics
Blueberry Basil Syrup 123
Pectin with Citrus Pith 124
Pink Grapefruit Jelly 125
Ginger and Lemon Infused Honey 126
Honey Peach BBQ Sauce 127
Slow Cooker Spiced Pear Butter 128
Homemade Roasted Peanut Butter 129
Creamy Cucumber Salad Dressing 130
Tomato Powder 131
Sweet Potato Powder 132
Celery Salt 134
Green Powder Blend 135
Shredded Coconut 136
Coconut Flour 137
Snacks
Strawberry Banana Roils 138
Cinnamon Apple Leather 139
Pumpkin Pie Leather 140
Pizza Blend Tomato Leather 141
Mixed Vegetable Leather 142
Tomato Wraps 143
Sweet Potato Chips 144
Kale Chips 145
Zucchini Chips 146
Dehydrated Refrigerator Pickles 148
My Classic Beef Jerky 149
Beef Steak jerky 150
Sides and Entrees
Cauliflower Soup 151
Asparagus Soup 152
Thermos Vegetable Soup 153
Sweet Potato Coconut Flour Pancakes 154
Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage Rolls 155
Sautéed Winter Squash with Apples 156
Dehydrated Winter Squash Nests 157
Garlic Creole Spiced Squash Nests 158
Fajita Beans and Rice 159
Riced Cauliflower Pizza Crust 160
Hash Brown Mix in a Jar 162
Quick Brown Rice 163
Quick Cook Beans 164
Mrs. B's Stovetop Baked Beans 165
Mexican Fiesta Bake 166
Drinks and Desserts
Rose Hip Mint Tea 167
Orange Mint Tea Blend 168
Lemon Verbena Sun Tea 169
Lemonade with Dehydrated Citrus 170
Apple Crisp with Oat Topping 171
Steve's Low-Fat Pineapple Cake 172
Candied Ginger 174
Oatmeal Fig Cookies 176
Conversions 178
Acknowledgments 181
About the Author 183